Posts by TimWardCam@c.im
(DIR) Post #B7vFVp98yCPiKUJzeK by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice Given that the last update broke my LibreOffice so that it no longer runs, I'm interested in (1) whether the August update will fix whatever was just broken, and (2) how I will update to the new version given that LibreOffice won't load?In the meantime it's just as well I haven't yet cancelled the MS Office subscription, isn't it.
(DIR) Post #B7vGzbTmRrosaDjomm by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice Windows 11. A couple of days ago I was running the then latest version. On starting it, it said it was updating to a new version (I wasn't asked whether I wanted it to - I didn't want it to, I just wanted to open a file).Having done that, or failed to do it, I don't know which, it now doesn't work at all. Open the application or open a file and nothing visible happens. As I happen to be a techie I tried looking in Task Manager, where I saw two, or sometimes three, processes get started, but they apparently sit there doing nothing at 0% CPU.The shortcut on my desktop is labelled "LibreOffice 25.8, which presumably failed to get updated on a previous update. There is a file called "C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\LibreOffice_26.2.4.2_Win_x86-64.msi" dated 30/06/2026 (again, not something a non-techie Office user would know to look at), which is presumably something to do with the attempted update that broke everything.
(DIR) Post #B7vIiomjvNW4psjJfk by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice I have filed a bug report but it doesn't look as if anyone has looked at it. https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=172644
(DIR) Post #B7vJ4KQBUs772ER8im by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice It does run in safe mode (from the command line, of course, as I can't get at any menus).
(DIR) Post #B7vJioDu75gl2zzm3U by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice And then it works with "disable hardware accelerations".Hardware accelerations?? - this is an office suite, not a high performance game. Shouldn't broken flaky experimental features like that be opt-in for techies, rather than default on for innocent word processor and spreadsheet users?
(DIR) Post #B7vJmkcpQsbf2xX7mS by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice Is there any logging or suchlike that I could add to the bug report?
(DIR) Post #B7vW6GTMRqRcltAzBY by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice I'm now using the latest LibreOffice with hardware acceleration turned off. I'm working with a large (for me) spreadsheet, not quite 100,000 rows, and doing a lot of scrolling up and down. Compared to the previous version of LibreOffice, with hardware acceleration turned on, the scrolling is faster, smoother, and overall less clunky. In fact scrolling now behaves pretty much as I'd expect, whereas the previous behaviour was rather disappointing for someone used to Excel.
(DIR) Post #B7vYqmqcbskSPVMqCe by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice I found some hardware audit tool lying around on this PC so added its output to the bug report in case that turns out to be helpful.
(DIR) Post #B8V5YcRMUa7J7bevB2 by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@IzzyOnDroid "So basically people became much worse – the accuracy was only one third – but they were twice as confident"You don't need expensive AI for that, you can accomplish it much more cheaply just using alcohol.(Example: pilot is practising instrument approaches using a PC simulator. Takes a break, has a couple of gins. Practises some more approaches. Reckons he's doing much better after the gin. Reviews the data in the morning and discovers that actually the gin made his performance crap.)
(DIR) Post #B8ffq4JvnlJvdVA9p2 by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@ariadne I once asked the company-supplied AI how to get round some of the corporate security theatre.I was expecting it to simply report me to security.Instead it told me how to get round the security, and even included some code. Which was wrong, of course, being AI generated code, but it pointed me in a direction which I eventually made to work.
(DIR) Post #B8jTd8SyecsbucIgHg by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gutenberg_org @BRMiller Ursula K Le Guin said that she once had her arm twisted to publish as U K Le Guin so as not to make it obvious she was a woman, but decided that that was wrong and never did it again.
(DIR) Post #B8pah52myVTnhLnN20 by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@libreoffice I was unimpressed with #LibreOffice when it updated itself and broke such that it wouldn't even launch. (I'm trying it out to see whether I can live with cancelling the MS subscription when it comes due in a few months.)To be fair, after a week or two someone suggested a (somewhat techie) workaround (which required use of the command line), and after several more weeks the bug I submitted got fixed (so it now works for me without the workaround).But.Not really the sort of experience a non-techie expects from a word processor. So even if I decide I can do without MS myself I am entirely unconvinced that I can sell it to the rest of the household.
(DIR) Post #B9CyORgyQU1rPDwU3k by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 1 repeats
@yora @jaredwhite I spent a whole career without having to become unethical.I did, about twice ever, have to hint to an employer or client that I would refuse to do something against my professional code of conduct, such as lying to their customers about how late their project was, but that was about all.
(DIR) Post #B9KMAgz0U3uYXgWIJU by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jmaris I'm pretty sure that when I wrote compilers (a long time ago now) we *did* include identification of the compiler in the output.
(DIR) Post #B9KMX7qFIwPYDK7RHE by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@wolf480pl @jmaris Well, this was the 1970s, we put something in a comment in the assembler source code output.
(DIR) Post #B9XCkeJTPlakCT4xE0 by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stux As a specially clever trick, discover that the bus driver is someone you went to school with several decades earlier, so that they then take you home rather than dropping you at the bus terminus with the other passengers.
(DIR) Post #B9hXcZCYBtaWrMqQ64 by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gutenberg_org But this can't be the USA that's being talked about, because First Amendment.
(DIR) Post #B9jdOJBHwgCVA0l4vQ by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stux The UK does not confirm or deny what its special forces might or might not be doing.
(DIR) Post #BAEr1k1rYWgKBSy1hI by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@FakeScrumStats Ah, that's another respect in which the minute taker is the most powerful person in the room.They're they only person for whom the meeting has to stop and wait when they go to the loo - you can manage without anybody else for a few minutes.
(DIR) Post #BARFKekU4KQQvab5hA by TimWardCam@c.im
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Gargron He assumed the householder wasn't at home?